1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a means for applying a lubricant to a tire shaping means. Specifically, the instant invention relates to a lubricating means employing a swinging arm member adapted to contact a lubricant impregnated member with the edge of the expanding members of a tire shaping drum in order to facilitate the removal of the tire from the shaping drum.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The rims of expanding members of tire shaping drums are conventionally lubricated manually. That is, the operator utilizes a dauber or similar means in order o manually apply a lubricant consisting of castor oil to the rims of the expanding member of the shaping drum. The lubricant facilitates the removal of the fully shaped tire from the shaping drum which normally has a tendency to adhere to the shaping drum in the bead area after the green tire carcass has undergone the shaping operation.
The manual application of the lubricant to the shaping drum increases the manual labor required to fabricate a tire and additionally results in uneven application of the lubricant to the flanges of the expanding members of the tire shaping drum. Excess lubricant applied to the tire shaping drum can be transferred to the shaped tire which will in turn interfere with later processing of the shaped tire having the lubricant disposed thereon. Specifically the presence of lubricant on the inside of the shaped tire will adversely affect the application of any release compound applied thereto resulting in an increase in incidence of problems during removal of the tire from the curing press. In addition, the use of an operator to manually apply the lubricant to the tire shaping drum is impractical in those situations where the shaping of the tire is substantially automated.
There is, therefore, a need for a means for automatically applying a measured amount of lubricant to the flanges of the expanding members of a tire shaping drum.
The instant invention solves this problem by providing an arm member having affixed thereto a lubricant impregnated member which may be selectively caused to contact the flanges of the expanding members of the tire shaping drum in order to cause a known amount of lubricant to be applied thereto automatically.